The government is leaning more heavily on community involvement as it moves to strengthen public safety in Tiger Bay, Georgetown. President Dr Mohamed Irfaan Ali said residents themselves must play a central role in securing their neighbourhood.
In the coming weeks, Minister of Home Affairs Oneidge Walrond will collaborate with residents to move the initiative forward and establish a community policing group.
“She (Minister Walrond) will be working with you to ensure that we get people from within the community …to be part of a community policing group… [so that] we can redefine what Tiger Bay is and…represents,” President Ali announced during the commissioning of a new futsal and basketball court last Friday.
Expounding further, the president said apart from safety, the programme will focus on prevention, mentorship and information sharing.
This comes as the government takes its first steps to transform Tiger Bay into Guyana’s first model neighbourhood. The pilot programme will prioritise urban renewal, enhance security and social development in communities across the country.
Areas stretching from the Guyana Stores to the seawall, and from High Street to Charmichael Street in Georgetown, will undergo significant change.
“There will be an industrial walkway, a cultural walkway, a heritage walkway right through your community [and] you have to prepare for it by making this area the safest, most desirable, and prosperous area,” the president underscored.
Centres will also be established to provide Board of Industrial Training (BIT) courses to young people within and around Tiger Bay.
An agricultural initiative to support women will also form part of the massive transformation, with 50 shade houses to be constructed in the coming months and managed by single women within the community.
The promised recreational facility has been delivered. It ties into the wider ‘Rescue Georgetown’ initiative led by the president and supported by internationally recognised architectural and engineering experts.
The aim is to restore Georgetown to its historic reputation as the ‘Garden City,’ while advancing sustainable urban development as outlined in the Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) 2030.